


A Bit Wet

by Goldy



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-08 19:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1952685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldy/pseuds/Goldy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>There was no way she was going to let the Doctor die in this weather on his own.</i> Late S2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bit Wet

The TARDIS was empty.

Rose stood blankly at the console room, mind sluggishly trying to catch up. A large drop of water slid down her nose and hit the grating with a dull _plop_.

The TARDIS was empty, _she_ had the sonic screwdriver, and the Doctor was _clearly_ still in the midst of running for his life. She _knew_ this was a rubbish plan.

Squaring her jaw, she turned on her heel and strode right back out of the TARDIS. Rain slammed back into her and she shivered, wishing she had at least thought to take the time to cover herself up with something more than a soaking wet t-shirt.

“Rose, _you_ take the sonic screwdriver,” she mumbled, stomping through puddles. “I know what I’m doing! I’m just utterly brilliant that way! If we get separated, we’ll meet back at the TARDIS. Sure thing! Useless, idiotic—”

A blast of wind hit her and she grit her teeth, pushing through it.

“Stupid, haughty _git_ ,” she ground out. If he got himself killed and regenerated again, she was going to be so _angry_.

She stopped, breathing hard, and chanced a look at her surroundings. The aliens on this planet were particularly vicious, short and stocky and covered with thick oozing pus. According to the Doctor, setting 938 on the sonic screwdriver took care of them long enough to make a running exit.

Which would be brilliant if _he_ had the bloody sonic screwdriver.

Cursing him again, Rose set off, some part of her realizing that the further away she got from the TARDIS, the less likely she’d be to find it again. But there was no way she was going to let the Doctor die in this weather on his own.

Her trainers felt like lead weights clamped to the bottom of her feet, but she pushed on, eyes tuned to the slightest bit of movement.

She didn’t have to wait long. A skinny figure in a brown coat emerged from the mist, glancing over his shoulder as he ran. A group of short, gray, pus-filled aliens closely pursued him.

Rose tightened her grip on the sonic screwdriver and ran towards them. The Doctor’s eyes lit up when he saw her, but he tried to hide it behind a stern frown.

“I thought I told you to go back to the TARDIS!”

“And I thought that was ‘cos you were right behind me!” Rose hollered.

He skidded to a halt in front of her. “I was!”

“You were not!” Rose said. She pointed at the aliens careening towards them. “You were about to get eaten!”

The Doctor waved that away and held out a hand. “Sonic screwdriver?”

Rose rolled her eyes, but she plunked it into his hand. “This is going to work, yeah?”

He looked affronted. “Rose, do you honestly think I would have given to you if it _didn’t_ work?”

The ground began to shake from the impending approach of the alien horde.

“Suppose not,” Rose admitted. She brushed a wet piece of hair out of her face and then beamed at him. “Hi.”

“Hello!” said the Doctor, beaming back.

The groups of aliens slid to a sudden stop, seeming quite confused by the Doctor and Rose’s new plan of attack. Then they turned their heads to the sky and emitted a vicious howl.

“Um, Doctor…” Rose began.

They aliens whipped their heads back towards them, smacking their lips in anticipation.

“On it,” the Doctor said. “What setting did I say it was? 540? 390?”

“Does it MATTER?”

“Oh… not really,” the Doctor said. “Just like to have things well-organized, Rose. Can’t scare off an alien horde with the same setting I use to repair the TARDIS’s wiring.”

The aliens began to run towards them.

“DOCTOR!”

“Though maybe in this case I can make an exception,” the Doctor said quickly. The sonic screwdriver buzzed to life.

The aliens came to a sudden stop, mere inches from them. They stared at the light on the sonic screwdriver, transfixed.

Rose moved closer to the Doctor, unconsciously holding her breath. She released it when the aliens came to some sort of unanimous decision and turned tail and ran away.

“Like I said, all in control. This lot, they hate blue light. They literally cannot stand it. What did I tell you?”

He nudged Rose in the side. Any other time, any other planet, and Rose barely would have noticed the small touch. But _this_ planet was covered in water and Rose was wet. Very, very wet.

She yelped and lost her balance. Her arms flailed once in the air before gripping the Doctor’s sleeve and holding on tight.

With the result that he fell to the ground on top of her.

“Ow,” she whined.

“Hmm,” he said. “I seem to have landed on something quite soft.”

“Good thing you didn’t add ‘squishy’ onto that,” Rose muttered.

The Doctor scrambled off her, but his foot caught in a puddle and he landed on his bum. He sent her a wide-eyed look when mud squelched under his legs.

Rose bit her lip to hold down a laugh.

“Oi! I only have the one suit, you know!” He looked down at himself in despair.

“I’m covered in mud, too!” Rose said. She made a face. “Are there earth worms on this planet? Eww.”

She gingerly lifted her hands in front of her face, examining them for anything slimy.

“Well,” the Doctor began in that ‘you-silly-and-intellectually-stunted-human’ tone of voice. “Even if there _were_ , I doubt they would be called ‘earth’ worms as such. But if you’re asking if a sentient being thrives in this sort of wet environment, then, yes, of course.”

Rose kicked some mud in his direction. “I think you have a worm on your tie.”

He twitched and glanced down at his tie. Which was impressively spotless, all things considered.

He shot her accusing look. “I think it’s time to head back to the TARDIS.”

He moved to get up, but Rose stopped him, “Hold on—”

She launched forward to hug him. He almost tumbled backwards, but then gathered her up tightly; his chuckles warm against her ear.

“Or not,” the Doctor said.

They fell back into the mud with an ominous sounding _splat_.

Rose barely noticed. “You have no idea if there are earth worms on this planet, do you?”

“Of course I do! In fact, there’s one there!” he jabbed a finger somewhere behind her. “See? Right there?”

Rose muffled a snort against his shoulder and shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

“Rose, I never lie about important ecological properties of the planets we visit.”

“Unless you want to sound impressive.” She pulled back to flash him a smile and then shivered.

The Doctor slid his hands down her arms. “Cold?”

“A bit,” Rose lied. Stuck in nothing but her soaked t-shirt, she was _freezing_. She pressed her teeth together to keep them from chattering.

“I mean it, Rose,” the Doctor said. “We should get back to the TARDIS.”

“Yeah,” Rose said.

Neither of them moved.

The seconds ticked passed, Rose vaguely aware they were breathing in each other’s faces. If she moved forward—just a little bit…

She pushed the thought away, but the Doctor’s hands moved from her arms to her back. Rose unconsciously pressed closer to him. He wasn’t exactly warm—at least, not like a human would be, but it didn’t matter. She nuzzled his neck with her nose, just slightly.

He didn’t react at first. But then his hands smoothed down her back and dipped under her t-shirt, pressing warmly against her skin. Rose went still. She heard his breath catch, but when she said nothing, he relaxed. His hands traced a path up her spine, slipping under her bra strap before stilling.

Rose bit her tongue to hold back a moan. She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to his shoulder. She couldn’t look at him.

Silence dragged on. Rose began to warm as a blush spread from her cheeks down through the rest of her body. She felt sensitive to his every breath, every twitch and shudder.

“Rose.”

His voice was soft, but not hesitant like she expected.

She raised her head, swallowing thickly. “Yeah?”

They stared at each other for a long time. Rose tried to read what was in his eyes.

“Do you…” he tried, but he couldn’t go on. Instead, he broke eye contact. He started to pull away.

Rose found herself cupping his jaw, turning him back down to face her. Then they were kissing. He pulled her closer, hand flat against her spine. She could taste the rainwater on his lips. It was fresh and clean, like diving into a lake on a sunny day.

They pulled away, breathing hard. He rested his forehead against hers, and he closed his eyes, mouth opening and closing like he was thinking and then dismissing hundreds of things to say.

Rose slid one hand behind his neck, letting her fingers brush through his hair. It suddenly occurred to her how they must look, stranded out in the middle of nowhere, shivering with their hair plastered to their foreheads.

“We should really get back to the TARDIS,” Rose whispered.

“Yeah,” the Doctor responded, but he kept his eyes closed.

Rose let him have another few moments, but began to disentangle herself when she shivered violently.

“Rose—” the Doctor pulled her down again, his grip almost desperate.

She blinked at him in surprise. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

The fear she saw in his eyes chilled her more than the rain. “You know I’ll do my best to keep you safe, don’t you?”

Well, that was an awful load of rubbish to be spewing after they had just survived an encounter with _another_ group of angry aliens intent on having them for breakfast.

“But I can’t promise,” he continued. “Impossible. Life like this.”

“Stop it,” she said sharply. He abruptly snapped his mouth shut. “Listen, I can’t know what’s it’s like to be you, to look up at the sky and know something’s coming. But I do know it’s not worth running scared from.” She shrugged. “I know you can’t promise, Doctor. Always have. Doesn’t change a thing.”

He seemed to get the message. He nodded and they climbed to their feet. His fingers linked with hers immediately, like he couldn’t bear to go more than a few seconds without touching her.

She felt that warm blush spread through her cheeks again. “So…” she started. “That thing, back there—bit of a new step for us.”

“Yeah,” said the Doctor. And then, “Why? I didn’t do it wrong, did I?”

She giggled and squeezed his hand. “Nope. Not wrong at all.”

She looked over and saw that he was grinning.

“Good,” said the Doctor firmly.

The rain began to fall in thicker sheets. Rose was grateful for their joined hands. She suddenly felt like if she let go, she might lose him to this planet.

The Doctor held her gaze and then jerked his head in the direction of the TARDIS. She smiled.

They ran the rest of the way.  



End file.
